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Meeting Between NRA and Joe Biden-Led Gun Task Force Didn’t Go Well

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WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 10: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden makes brief remarks to the press after a meeting with Cabinet members and sportsmen’s, wildlife and gun interest groups at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building January 10, 2013 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Barack Obama appointed Biden to oversee a task force on gun violence and also was to meet with a representative of National Rifle Association (NRA) in a second day of meetings. Credit: Getty Images

The National Rifle Association on Thursday met with Vice President Joe Biden and the gun violence task force created by President Barack Obama to address gun-related violent crime. As you may have expected, the NRA and the Obama administration didn’t agree on much.

In a statement released shortly after Thursday’s meeting, the NRA said it was “disappointed with how little” the meeting “had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the Second Amendment.” Read the entire statement below (emphasis added):

The National Rifle Association of America is made up of over 4 million moms and dads, daughters and sons, who are involved in the national conversation about how to prevent a tragedy like Newtown from ever happening again. We attended today’s White House meeting to discuss how to keep our children safe and were prepared to have a meaningful conversation about school safety, mental health issues, the marketing of violence to our kids and the collapse of federal prosecutions of violent criminals.

We were disappointed with how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the Second Amendment. While claiming that no policy proposals would be “prejudged,” this Task Force spent most of its time on proposed restrictions on lawful firearms owners – honest, taxpaying, hardworking Americans. It is unfortunate that this Administration continues to insist on pushing failed solutions to our nation’s most pressing problems. We will not allow law-abiding gun owners to be blamed for the acts of criminals and madmen. Instead, we will now take our commitment and meaningful contributions to members of congress of both parties who are interested in having an honest conversation about what works – and what does not.

Biden said that while he had not finalized his recommendations, a consensus was emerging over banning assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, as well as potentially implementing “universal background checks.” He said tightening background checks would include closing the so-called gun show loophole but also requiring background checks for all transactions, even private sales.

The president hopes to announce his administration’s next steps to tackle gun violence shortly after he is sworn in for a second term and has pledged to push for new measures in his State of the Union address.

This story may be updated with additional comments from Vice President Joe Biden.